Monday, July 13, 2009

Looks like North Carolina reigned over VA and TN on a super fun backcountry route in the Mount Rogers National Recreation. Damascus, Virginia not only has one of Virginia's favorite trails, the Creeper trail, but it is also centrally located among some of the best singletrack the Southern region has to offer. Drew Scharns of Boone, NC played his card perfectly and launched his attack while the Harrisonburg, VA boys were refueling at the aid station. The Burg boys thought Drew was dragging early on because he was dangling on the climbs. They must not of thought for a second that Drew’s plan was to carry everything he needed so he wouldn’t have to stop for support. Thus the extra weight must have been hard to pull early on. But later in the race when his load lightened he launched a powerful attack coming back into the Iron Mountain Trail that no one could follow. Drew was able to put 2 minutes on the chasers by Station #4 at the bottom of Chestnut Ridge and gain another 3 minutes by the time he reached the line. Ryan Fawley who looked like the man with the fitness to beat him coming straight off his victory in the Tour d’ Burg couldn’t quite muster the mental strength. Ryan slipped his hand while taking a drink and bashed his face on the bars while trying to chase back on. This proved to rattle his cage just enough to keep him from bringing back the winning move. Darrell Prillaman of Boone and Kyle Lawrence of Harrisonburg were in the mix all day as a strong part of the foursome that distanced themselves early on from other challengers. Kyle and Darrell seemed to be lacking the explosiveness that they needed to contest for the victory. The lead group had just spent 6 days of racing together during the Tour d’ Burg so they were very accustomed to each other tactics and riding styles. Huge props to Michael Coco (Half Ass Racing) for rocking the singlespeed to 5th overall and Georgia’s backcountry ace Kelly Thomson for putting in a tough ride to just miss the podium.

Alisha Lion seemed to be the strongest girl in the field as she jockeyed all day with Misty Tilson, taking the lead on the climbs and loosing ground on the descents. Blacksburg’s Laura Hamm was a last minute addition to the field and she came prepared enough to squeak out the last spot on the podium.

The local tough guy award was won by Brett Morrow in a tight battle with Greg Norman. Greg is looking forward to a rematch as they were locked in a great back and forth battle until Greg couldn’t keep air in his tires and Brett rolled clear as the local champ.

Huge thanks to Brian Combs on the moto, Matt Smith on the pre-ride mission, Howard Roland with the radio support and all the other folks who helped this great first year event come together soooo nicely!

3 comments:

Hey Chris- great race! Despite flatting and breaking my chain and crashing multiple times, I really LOVED this race... I can't wait for next year. :) Thanks for taking the time to put it together... Alisha Lion